18/01/20 A coffee shop in Bethnal Green
I've been sat in this coffee shop for almost three hours. When I first arrived it was crowded and bustling, in a nice way. There are abstract (badly drawn) portraits on the walls and artistic lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. It has just the right measure of hipsterness, pleasantly unbalanced slightly by the mixed array of customers. I order a chilli hot chocolate and ask two women if they mind if I perch on the end of their table. Glancing up from their conversation, they nod and gesture amicably. Of course they do; it is an independent vegan cafe after all. As I pull out my laptop to do some reading, soft jazz catches my ear playing over the speakers. The place really does have a lovely lunchtime ambience.
Soon, a man and a woman ask me if they can sit at the remaining space on the table. I nod and gesture amicably. Of course I do; I am an independent vegan after all.
I can't help but be distracted by their conversation which, at first glance I imagined would be some sort of work related discussion but which transpires to be a decent hour and a half of gossip. After they've finished their amazing looking burgers (wolfed down vivaciously by the man and hardly touched by the woman), they leave. It's not long before they're replaced by two new people who ask once again if it's ok for them to sit at the end of the table. I can't work out their relationship to one another, at first thinking that the woman is some sort of counsellor for the boy who seems younger, maybe my age. Throughout, she seems to have a tendency for offering advice based on her own experiences, which is quite endearing really. However, as the conversation progresses they start referring to relatives they share, the majority of which sound troubled.
Now Amy Winehouse is being streamed over the speakers which seems fitting as the evening closes in and the sky outside darkens. The young groups of friends meeting for a quirky vegan salad have filtered out and the tables are now littered with young-ish mums and elderly looking couples, enjoying each other's company over no nonsense coffee. I don't know why I don't take my reading to cafes more often; the level of distraction has no doubt rocketed but my goodness it is a thousand times more interesting than the library or the four grey walls of my accommodation.
Eventually I pack away my laptop and my notebook and begin my walk home through the park, thinking how grateful I am for my family, whilst in the back of my mind I am intrigued by what people must think when they eavesdrop on my conversation. What an interesting semi-social experience they are, the independent cafes of Bethnal Green.
Soon, a man and a woman ask me if they can sit at the remaining space on the table. I nod and gesture amicably. Of course I do; I am an independent vegan after all.
I can't help but be distracted by their conversation which, at first glance I imagined would be some sort of work related discussion but which transpires to be a decent hour and a half of gossip. After they've finished their amazing looking burgers (wolfed down vivaciously by the man and hardly touched by the woman), they leave. It's not long before they're replaced by two new people who ask once again if it's ok for them to sit at the end of the table. I can't work out their relationship to one another, at first thinking that the woman is some sort of counsellor for the boy who seems younger, maybe my age. Throughout, she seems to have a tendency for offering advice based on her own experiences, which is quite endearing really. However, as the conversation progresses they start referring to relatives they share, the majority of which sound troubled.
Now Amy Winehouse is being streamed over the speakers which seems fitting as the evening closes in and the sky outside darkens. The young groups of friends meeting for a quirky vegan salad have filtered out and the tables are now littered with young-ish mums and elderly looking couples, enjoying each other's company over no nonsense coffee. I don't know why I don't take my reading to cafes more often; the level of distraction has no doubt rocketed but my goodness it is a thousand times more interesting than the library or the four grey walls of my accommodation.
Eventually I pack away my laptop and my notebook and begin my walk home through the park, thinking how grateful I am for my family, whilst in the back of my mind I am intrigued by what people must think when they eavesdrop on my conversation. What an interesting semi-social experience they are, the independent cafes of Bethnal Green.
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